Bon Voyage, Catalina Neon!

We’ve had a wild, whimsical ride this past year with Catalina Neon and her bandana-clad dog, Tortilla. From gooey plants to laser beams to secret tunnels to carrot astronauts in the Galactic Poetry Cosmic Library, Catalina and Tortilla have been through it all—with a love for poetry guiding them along. Today, Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, along with artist Juana Medina, present the final chapter of “The Technicolor Adventures of Catalina Neon”—an epilogue to bring the story to an end.

From the outset of “Catalina Neon,” Juan Felipe Herrera has been adamant about relying on the imaginations of second and third graders to propel the bilingual, illustrated poem forward. “At every turn Catalina steps into a new dimension, and the children who contribute illuminate us with unpredictable pathways,” he said about the submission and selection process. Over the course of eight months, elementary school librarians and teachers around the country flooded our inboxes with their colorful continuations of Catalina’s adventures—never ceasing to dazzle, expand, and electrify the possible paths forward. “Students are so creative, and they are so hilarious, and they have great ideas, and they are super inventive, and they are great writers, by the way, and have mega imaginations, and they catapulted me into another level of knowing what a book for children is and how to write it and create characters who are flexible and unique,” Herrera gushed about the collaboration. “With our great artist Juana Medina, it all comes together like magic on ice cream.”

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of those who contributed to this inspired project. Without their brilliant neon fuel, “The Technicolor Adventures of Catalina Neon” truly would not exist. Big electric thanks to the librarians, teachers, and students who dreamed this story onto the page:

• Librarian Cammie Copps Fuller and students at Saint James’ Episcopal School, Warrenton, VA
• Librarian Christy Marshall, teacher Peggy Shaw, and students at Clemens Crossing Elementary School, Columbia, MD
• Librarian Deidre Ables, teacher Megan Hines, and students at Slater Marietta Elementary School, Marietta, SC
• Librarian Emily Woodward, teacher Kathy Gates, and students at The Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, PA
• Teachers Kristy Hui and Katie Rizzo and students at Alta Vista School, San Francisco, CA
• Librarian Catherine Scholl, teacher Beth Porter, and students at Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Bryn Mawr, PA
• Librarian Sara Jauniskis, teachers Kim Casalena and Kristan Fiori, and students at Sprague Elementary School, Wellesley, MA
• Librarian Marcie Reyes; teachers Ms. Almodovar, Ms. Perry, Ms. Sias, and Ms. Woofter; and students at Dr. Nixon Elementary, El Paso, TX

And so, with hearts full of love and poetry, we bid Catalina Neon—along with Tortilla, Mama Sonnett, and Papa Langston—a bittersweet farewell. Let’s travel once more into the ultramarine skies Catalina loves so dearly, and “Ride Out from Poetry Planeta” together.

“I want to offer the wand of poetry
To every child and school in the
Nation. Catalina Neon is that inspiration
Wand – once a child picks it up and
Waves it across a sheet of paper or
A computer screen.”

—Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, 2015-2017